I relocated to Berlin from London in May to pursue a freelance career and explore a new city. I have a background in womenswear knit design and I have spent the past 2 years trend forecasting for womenswear, lingerie & kidswear. This included broader macro & lifestyle trends, seasonal lingerie/sleep/active/holiday/womenswear trends, fabric & embellishment trends & catwalk analysis.
Since moving to Berlin I have been working for a variety of UK based trend companies WGSN, FutureLand and Trendstop, providing them with street style, retail & catwalk reports, alongside creating knitwear designs & tech packs for the Berlin cashmere brand, Cashmere Sisters.
I am always keen to meet new creatives and explore exciting freelance opportunities, so please get in touch!
To view my daily inspiration, please find _thisistrend on Instagram.
Work history
Trend DesignerMarks and Spencer
London, United KingdomFull Time
Working for M&S, I am responsible for trend forecasting for all womenswear categories, including activewear, lingerie and swimwear. Researching online, attending international trade fairs, vintage and inspiration shopping alongside constant print, knit and embellishment studio visits make my role both consistently innovative and excited by new fashion ideas. Achievements include –
• Relevant trend forecasting by creating reports, mood-boards and presentations to provide cutting edge inspiration for garment designers and buyers to work into
• Creating beautiful and aspirational trends for all of the M&S brands, working with each brand’s unique identity to constantly update the range and product offer
• Producing monthly content for own M&S internal blog "The Inspiration Edit" - both visual & written blog posts to inspire designers, containing catwalk analysis, macro trends, new stores / brands etc.
• Attending European trade fairs, talks and exhibitions to keep my work diverse and relevant
• Sourcing new season prints, lace, embellishment and knit fabrics to keep M&S collections exciting & innovative
• Work alongside marketing to create inspiring and fashion forward campaigns, creating cohesion between design and marketing
• Presenting new trends and stories to design leads & heads of design
Knitwear Designer
- London, United KingdomFull Time
Working for Monsoon, I managed an assistant knitwear designer and a part-time freelance designer working closely with our buying team to ensure fashion was at the forefront of every collection. I designed into multiple seasons and was given the opportunity to design first hand with frequent Far East factory visits, European inspiration & Near East development trips. Achievements included –
• Trend forecasting – prepping colour palettes, mood-boards and collection line ups to present to management, suppliers and the rest of the Monsoon teams
• Designing a wide range of garments, from the core basics to “wow” press/look-book pieces
• Elevating the Monsoon design handwriting through designing full scale artworks for knitwear related print and embroidery
• Yarn and fabric sourcing, designing yarns from scratch or adapting existing yarns for a brief
• Providing technical spec sheets for all knitwear designs (fully fashioned and cut & sew)
• Being heavily involved with fit sessions, providing technical diagrams for factories to interpret
• Working with both our Hong Kong and Turkish factories, both in person & through email / Skype
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Skills
- Art Direction
- Design
- Product Development
- Sketching
- Technical Design
- Fashion Illustration
- Trend Forecasting
- Range Building
- Tech Pack Creation
- Yarn Sourcing
- Stitch Work
- Catwalk Analysis
- Knitwear Design
- Fashion Knitwear
Education
H
H
BA(Hons) Design for Textiles (fashion/interiors/artHeriot-Watt University
- United Kingdom
BA(Hons) Design for Textiles - specialising in fashion knitwear
Awards
N
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Finalist of Knitted Textile Awards 2013National Knitted Textile Awards
I was awarded a finalist place at the National Knitted Textile Awards and exhibited in Alexandra Palace and Harrogate.